Features
International Festivals: Rock Am Ring Sells Out; 40,000 At Sea Star, Wonderfruit & More
Rock Am Ring’s Record Sell Out
Rock am Ring, which is about to kick off, June 3-5, at Nürburgring, Germany, sold out 90,000 festival tickets, which marks a record according to promoter Dreamhaus.
Green Day, Muse, and Volbeat lead a lineup that also includes Placebo, Måneskin, Pollstar cover star Marteria, Beatsteaks, Jan Delay & Disko No. 1, The Offspring, Korn, Deftones, Scooter, and more.
Twin festival Rock im Park, taking place at Nuremberg’s Zeppelinfeld on the same days with the same lineup, was also close to capacity with 70,000-plus sold tickets at the time of writing.
The main stage program of Rock Am Ring will be livestreamed on RTL+, a TikTok partnership will further extend the reach of the biggest edition ever to take place at Nürburgring.
See: Rock Am Ring Germany Will Be Livestreamed
Since 1985, tens of thousands of music fans have made the pilgrimage to the historic race track, first on Whitsun weekend, later on the first weekend in June, when Rock am Ring takes place to this day. Rock im Park was added in 1997.
Over the decades, acts such as David Bowie, The Bangles, Alanis Morissette, The Fugees, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Die Toten Hosen, A$AP Rocky and Jay-Z have played at both festivals.
‘Probably The Most Successful’ Sea Star
Sea Star, the first major festival in Croatia since two-and-a-half years, went down May 27-28 in Umag, a popular holiday destination on the Adriatic coast.
Promoters, the team behind Serbia’s Exit Festival, counted 40,000 visitors from 40 countries, “a new, young, optimistic and euphoric generation of people,” who “filled the festival grounds and made for probably the most successful edition of the event,” as they wrote in a statement.
The hip hop and techno-heavy lineup featured Amelie Lens, last-minute addition Onyx, Meduza, Topic, Senidah, Dubioza Kolektiv, Umek, as well asSerbia’s Eurovision entry Konstrakta und Eurovision 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra.
Each night was filled with the energy of people “happy to meet again and feel the music,” the promoter statement continues, “many sprinted to the festival gates after receiving their wristbands and celebrated being part of a large euphoric community again. Judging by the statements of numerous artists inside, this positive energy transferred from the audience to all stages.”
The majority of Sea Star visitors came from Fans from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Serbia, but visitors from the USA, Australia, Israel or Kuwait were also present. 15% of the audience came from non-regional countries, which marks “a huge leap forward compared to the last festival editions and establishes Sea Star Festival as a relevant event of the international festival scene.”
Next up in the Exit family’s lineup of events is the original, Exit, at Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia, July 7-10. The lineup is led by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Iggy Azalea, Calvin Harris, Maceo Plex, James Arthur, Napalm Death, Boris Brejcha, and more.
Wonderfruit Returns
Wonderfruit Festival announced its return to their home in The Fields at Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand, Dec. 15-18, 2022.
Thailand’s pioneering carbon-neutral celebration of the arts and sustainable living, will be returning for its seventh iteration with yet-to-be announced “world-class live music acts and DJs as well as perspective-shifting talks and workshops, tantalising tastes from award-winning chefs, family-friendly activities, and so much more. December 2022 will mark an unforgettable four-day journey through arts, music, food, and ideas in the serene and sublime Thai countryside.”
Wonderfruit is the epitome of a modern, eco friendly event. In 2020, the festival won an award for its décor, which is made up almost entirely of natural materials, using rope in place of nails. “You would be a very hard stretched to find a plastic cable tie on this site,” the jury wrote at the time.
Cooking Oil As Fuel & Coffee Grounds For Soap Bars: Greenest Festivals Honored At ILMC
Wonderfruit also featured on Pollstar, when we took a deep-dive into the latest sound revolution created by L-Acoustics and Polygon Live. One of the first iterations of their immersive 360-degree surround sound stage could be found at Wonderfruit 2017.
See: Is Immersive Sound Tech The Biggest Thing In Sound In 2020?
‘Your Planet’ At Superbloom
Speaking of sustainability, the premiere of Superbloom in Munich, Germany, Sept. 3-4, will feature an “experience area” called “Your Planet.”
Promoter Goodlive described the area as an “exciting and interactive playground for sustainability projects, social initiatives and exciting ideas for the future with their positive power.”
“Your Planet” is realized in cooperation with European Festival initiative Take A Stand, and is supported by the local state agency for civic education, which helped shape the program.
Social initiatives, NGOs and organizations will present their visions, research and projects at “Your Planet.” When selecting them, “our overall guideline was ‘positive power.’ We want to present great examples of solution-oriented thinking and implementations to all interested parties at the festival. I am convinced that the actions of each individual will make our world a little bit better – at ‘Your Planet’ everyone will find the inspiration to do so,” said Superbloom festival director Fruzsina Szép.
The detailed program will be published in the coming months. Confirmed speakers at “Your Planet” include Jürgen Dusel, Germany’s federal commissioner representing the interests of people with disabilities, the anti-racism group of Amnesty International Deutschland, the Munich group of the Fridays for Future climate campaigns, JUNO, a voice for refugee women encouraging the exchange with locals to break down mutual prejudices, or Über den Tellerrand, which is trying to achieve something similar.
That’s all in addition to Superbloom’s massive lineup, which features Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Macklemore, Megan Thee Stallion, Stromae, Rita Ora, Glass Animals, Years&Years, Skepa, and many more.